The Ozone and Ice Cream Sodas

It’s been hot, but whenever I feel like complaining, I think of all the people who haven’t had power this week and I imagine what they’ve endured without air conditioning.  Then I wonder if running my air conditioner will deplete the ozone layer more and give us worse summers in the future.  Then I look up stuff on the ozone layer and discover ozone-depleting chemicals have been banned from home air conditioners since the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1989.  The only snag is, it’ll take 50 years for all the ozone-depleting chemicals we released before the Montreal Protocol to be cleared from the stratosphere.

So, I no longer feel guilty about my air conditioner ruining the ozone.  I only feel guilty about it using up a lot of electricity.  Then I imagine our future and how people will survive, and I picture solar farms, violent storms, the new plague, and curious beauty.

I’m having fun writing my next book.  I’m also making ice cream sodas this afternoon.  Here’s the recipe.

Num.

Ice Cream Soda

Hershey’s Syrup
Vanilla ice cream
Seltzer water
Whipped cream (optional)
Cherry (optional)

Squirt a nice big gob of Hershey’s syrup in the bottom of a glass.  Add a little vanilla ice cream and mix the two together into a gray mash.  Add seltzer water until the glass is half full, and stir it until the gray mash is dissolved.  Add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream to float in the seltzer mixture.  Squirt a little more syrup on top to make it look nice.  The whipped cream and cherry are optional.